Hear ye, hear ye: The ZTE Imperial (pictures)

Sporting 4G LTE capabilities, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and a dual-core processor, the Imperial is a ZTE midrange phone that's actually worth considering. It's currently available from U.S. Cellular for one penny after users sign a two-year contract.

Though I'm usually partial to white devices, and the use of the color doesn't look bad on this handset, the ZTE Imperial is hefty -- really hefty. At 0.45 inch thick and weighing 5.43 ounces, it's bulky in the hand.

The phone runs on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean and features your standard complement of Google apps, such as Gmail, Google+, Chrome, Local, Maps with Navigation, Messenger, and several Google Play store portals.

The handset's 4-inch IPS display has a 480x800-pixel resolution. The touch screen is responsive to my swipes and taps, and menu icons and texts appear clear. However, the display has a narrow viewing angle, and as such, it's even more difficult to view outdoors.

The 5-megapixel camera has several photo options. A few include flash, touch focus, a 4x digital zoom, 10 Instagram-esque filters, five shooting modes that include panorama and rapid capture, two scene modes, compositional lines, five photo sizes (ranging from 640x480 to 2,592x1,944 pixels).

Powering the device is a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and a 2,500mAh battery that yields a reported talk time of up to 12 hours.